Downright neighborly

Allentown eases rules so residents can throw block parties.

September 26, 2006|By Genevieve Marshall Of The Morning Call

Damien Brown quickly got to know his neighbors when he, his fiance and their baby daughter moved into one of the stone-and-stucco row homes in the 500 block of N. Saint George Street in Allentown earlier this year.

The neighbors are the type who baby-sit each other's children, borrow power tools and landscape their yards together.

They get along so well that Brown thought it would be a great idea to bring everyone together for a block party.

But Allentown's old block party rules didn't make it easy. The city required block party holders to take out $1 million worth of liability insurance, an amount that would have cost Brown and his 18 neighbors $1,500 for one day.

"It seemed unreasonable to jump through all these hoops, to do something so incredibly simple," Brown said. "I just wanted to have a cookout with my neighbors and block off the street."

Brown's luck changed in August, when the city eased its restrictions on block parties.

All Brown needed to do was pay $10, fill out a permit application and get signatures from 75 percent of the residents on his block. It took him one day to get the signatures, and a few days for the city to grant approval. City workers dropped off barricades to block the streets.

The new rules, modeled after Philadelphia's block party policy, are a "win-win" for everyone, he said.

Brown is among 15 people who have applied for block party permits since the city changed its rules just over a month ago, said Mary Ellen Koval, Allentown's manager of special projects.

"It used to be that if we had one individual apply for a permit in an entire year, it was a lot," Koval said. "It was one of the mayor's priorities so neighbors could interact and get to know one another, to create goodwill. It was the right thing to do."

Before August, any block parties in Allentown were usually organized by churches and businesses that are already covered by their insurance companies.

But there were other cumbersome rules, including having a health department inspector stop by to test the temperature of any food sold by vendors and to check for hand-washing stations, said Mark Sinex, who helps plan an annual block party held by St. James Evangelical Lutheran Church on N. 11th Street.

From his years of experience, Sinex knew how to create a hand-washing station out of a coffee urn filled with a weak bleach solution. But anyone new to block-party planning would have been stymied by all the rules, he said.

When Sinex called the city this year about the St. James block party, he was told that the inspector wouldn't need to come out for the Sept. 16th cookout.

"It wasn't so taxing on the people involved," said Sinex, who is the church's treasurer. "We were able to maintain the same health standards but it was easier to plan."

Other cities have longer histories of block parties.

Easton doesn't charge for block parties, nor does it have an official block party policy, said Capt David Ryan of the Easton Police Department.

"We just take the request in writing, notify the county 9-1-1 and arrange to drop off the barricades and no parking signs," Ryan said. "All we ask is that they comply with any ordinances or laws they could get cited for."

Easton has had as many as 50 block parties in one night on National Night Out. The first event was organized in 1984 by the National Association of Town Watch, and designed to encourage people to put on their porch lights and sit out to discourage crime.

Over the years, the evening event in Easton has become more of a neighborhood celebration, and block parties are a way to show support.

Bethlehem has 20 to 30 a year, according to David Kravatz, the city's traffic lieutenant.

Bethlehem requires that people interested in having a block party come in and talk to Kravatz about closing the street. The city will agree to the request as long as it is feasible.

"We're not going to block off a main street," he said. "But a side street is doable."

Kravatz said party organizers are advised to let all neighbors know about the plans. He said there have been times where not all residents are in favor of the idea or may be worried about being able to park in front of their houses. In those cases, Kravatz said, he will step in to work things out.

When a local serviceman returned from Iraq recently, Kravatz helped the soldier's family deal with the Department of Public Works and get a side street blocked off.

"It was going to be an overflow crowd," Kravatz said. "So we realized it would be safer to keep people away from traffic."

For block parties organized by individuals and neighborhood groups, Bethlehem waives its requirement for liability insurance and doesn't charge to drop off barricades for street closings, Kravatz said.

But the city is reviewing all of its permits and that could change, he said.

"We do it as a kind of service to the community, to foster neighborliness," Kravatz said. "It brings people outside."